Peshawar, Pakistan – Three people died Wednesday during violent protests in two cities over caricatures of Muhammad published in Western newspapers.
Demonstrators continued to ransack foreign companies and franchises across the country as the death toll in protests there this week rose to five.
Pakistani authorities said two people died Wednesday here in Peshawar, capital of North- West Frontier Province, while one person was killed in the city of Lahore.
In Peshawar, an 8-year-old boy was killed by a stray bullet, police officials said, while an electric cable that was snapped by gunfire killed a 25-year-old man, police said.
A doctor at one of the state- run hospitals in the city said 50 people were brought to the emergency ward for injuries. Four police officers also suffered injuries when tear-gas shells exploded in their hands as they prepared to fire them at the mobs.
In Lahore, a Punjab University employee was slain in crossfire between students and police.
Caricatures mocking the Muslim prophet were originally printed in a Danish newspaper in September. But the cartoons were reprinted recently in several Western countries by publications whose editors insist they are defending freedom of the press. Many Muslims view such images as blasphemous.
Wednesday’s violence in Peshawar erupted when tens of thousands of people went on the rampage, dragging the U.S. flag through the streets as they torched shops and offices.
In many areas of the city, angry protesters opened fire as riot police tried to disperse them.
“We will not forgive Danish dogs for publishing cartoons against our holy prophet,” said a banner in the city’s main square.
Students from “madrassas,” or Islamic seminaries, and Afghan refugees also joined the protesters, who shouted slogans such as “Down with America and its allies. Death to Denmark.”
Rioters set fire to gas pumps, movie theaters, shops and banks. In addition, they damaged 16 buses owned by a South Korean transportation company, Sammi-Daewoo; offices of the Norwegian telecommunication company Telenor; and fast- food restaurants of the American chain KFC.
